Traditional parties responsible for destruction in JK: Altaf Bukhari

Srinagar, Apr 15: Reaffirming the Apni Party’s commitment to ensuring the political and economic empowerment of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, its president, Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari, urged the people to vote for the party’s candidates, Zaffar Iqbal Manhas in Anantnag-Rajouri, and Mohammad Ashraf Mir in Srinagar, in the imminent Lok Sabha polls.
He was addressing an event at the party headquarters in Srinagar Monday. The event was aimed at welcoming several political and social activists and workers from south Kashmir’s Pulwama district into the party fold.
The new entrants included prominent social activist from Pulwama Waseem Ahmad Malik, BDC Awantipora Abdul Ahad, Ubaid Bashir, Adil Bashir —all from the main town Pulwama— and others.
Addressing the occasion, Apni Party president reiterated the party’s unwavering commitment to ensuring peace, prosperity, and development in Jammu and Kashmir and the political and economic empowerment of its people.
He said, “Our primary agenda is to establish lasting peace, foster enduring prosperity, and promote sustainable development in Jammu and Kashmir, besides ensuring the political and economic empowerment of its people.”
Taking a dig at the traditional parties, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari said that the deceitful politics by the traditional parties caused tremendous damage to J&K and its people over the years and decades.
He said, “The traditional parties bear responsibility for the deaths and destruction in this land, as their deceitful political narratives and emotional sloganeering have paved the way for bloodshed and violence. These parties now stand exposed before the public, as people know that the deceitful narratives by these parties pushed our young generation onto the path of violence, and eventually, thousands of them ended up either in jails or in graveyards.”
“Even after so much destruction and deaths over the past three decades, one of these parties still say that we will fight for the next hundred years. Are our youth for fighting and dying only?” he asked.
He went on to say, “These parties had established PAGD only to deceive people. Now, they have themselves buried this so-called alliance for their individual political and electoral gains.” [KNT]